Sign problems cut school speeding tickets

Lights weren't flashing on some school zone signs in West Bexar County on Monday, keeping deputies from issuing citations to speeders on the first day of school.

Published 2:30 pm, Monday, August 23, 2010

With the end of summer vacation comes a return of students to classrooms - and law enforcement officers to school zones, to catch motorists who zoom past warning signs that say, "Speed Limit 20 When Flashing."

But Monday's return to Bexar County public schools saw sheriff's deputies having a hard time enforcing the law, as the lights on some of the signs weren't flashing.

"It seems like hardly any of them on the West Side were working this morning," said Sgt. E.M. Conger with the Bexar County Sheriff's Office. "Because the lights weren't working, we weren't going to issue tickets. Hopefully, the situation will be taken care of by tomorrow."

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Last Aug. 26, some 91 San Antonio motorists received citations for speeding in a school zone, said Municipal Court spokesman Fred Garcia. The number of people ticketed Monday was not immediately available.

Of the 18 school zones deputies were assigned to Monday morning, lights on at least eight were off, Conger said. At least one was working properly but he wasn't sure about the remaining ones because officers were still out. Although Conger said the outages were reported to the county's public works department, Bexar County spokeswoman Laura Jesse said it had only received reports that signals at Southwest Independent School District's campuses on Dragon Lane were out.

"But there's no way for us to know unless someone calls," Jesse said.

Traffic engineer Mary Francis Teniente said public works staff uses a paging system to fix the lights, but officials don't know the lights are out unless the outage is reported.

April Hernandez with San Antonio's public works department said at least four reported outages were reported by callers who dialed 311. She said the department would continue to monitor the signs, but said the problem did not seem widespread.

"As far as we're concerned, we didn't have any malfunctions," she said.

Officials are also watching for drivers using their cell phones in about 200 school zones city-wide where it's prohibited. A state law that took effect last fall makes it illegal to talk or text on hand-held mobile devices while driving, but the law can't be enforced unless warning signs are posted, and left it up to cities and counties to install the signs. Both Bexar County and San Antonio are still in the process of posting the signs.

Using such a device while driving is now illegal in 182 out of 342 school zones in the city where signs have been posted, Hernandez said. The remaining signs should be installed by next spring. About 20 signs are already posted at Bexar County schools outside of the city limits, Teniente said, and another 90 will be erected this year.